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Look Who’s Stabbing Now via Wicked Horror

For years, slashers have relied on the trope of the unkillable monster. Michael Myers is shot multiple times at the end of Halloween only to disappear when the camera turns away from him, before coming back for Halloween II. Jason dies at the end of pretty much every Friday the 13th movie only to be inexplicably back (or explicably resurrected) for the next one.

And that’s saying nothing about the damage either of them supposedly took as they pursued hapless teenagers. These two were punched, kicked, head-butted, stabbed, shot, electrocuted, defenestrated, but never slowed down. Early slashers trained audiences to accept that the killer could fall down the stairs and be back to full health – though typically never going faster than a walk – in the very next scene.

Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson took full advantage of those expectations with one of the best twists in movie history: the second killer. It’s genius. After decades of watching Leatherface, Jason, Michael, et al tearing brain-dead teenagers apart, audiences were primed to assume that it’s always the one guy behind the mask. Adding a second killer gave a realistic explanation for the amount of punishment the guy takes, and how he seems to often be in two places at once.

Ghostface can be in two places at once, because Ghostface is two people: Billy and Stu. It’s a brilliant take on an all-too-familiar trope. But who’s the killer in each scene? I tried to figure it out once and for all: